Chess in Nebraska refers to competitive

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

played within the state of

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. , Nebraska has 245 active players registered with the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, The World Chess Federation (FIDE). USCF administers the official national Chess ...

. The current USCF Nebraska state affiliate is the Nebraska State Chess Association.

History

In March 1909, the

Nebraska State Journal The ''Nebraska State Journal'' (NSJ), also known as ''Lincoln Nebraska State Journal'', was a daily newspaper published from 1867 through 1951. The first newspaper for the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, it was founded by Charles H. Gere and W. W. Car ...

published a game claimed to have been between

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was the third World Chess Championship, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he was widely renowned for his exceptional Chess ...

and another player named F. D. Cornell. Throughout the 1960s and 70's, Nebraska was a hotspot for chess tournaments in the United States. The top chess players from across the nation would travel to the state to compete, including eventual world champion

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Chess Champi ...

. In 1969 and 1975, the U.S. Open Chess Championship was hosted in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

. Some Nebraskans who began playing around this time would go on to compete globally. In 1996, the Nebraska Chess Hall of Fame was established. In order for someone to be inducted, they needed to have lived in the state at some point. As of May 2024, 19 people have been inducted into it. In February 2020, a

Bughouse chess Bughouse chess (also known as exchange chess, Siamese chess (but not to be confused with Thai chess), tandem chess, transfer chess, double bughouse, doubles chess, cross chess, swap chess or simply bughouse, bugsy, or bug) is a popular chess vari ...

tournament was held in Fremont. In November 2021, the chess club at Plains Baptist Church in Lincoln conducted a

simultaneous exhibition A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display is a board game exhibition (commonly chess or Go) in which one player (typically of high rank, such as a grandmaster or dan-level player) plays multiple games at a time with a number of other pl ...

featuring JJ Lang. Lang played 16 games at once. In 2022, the Kearney Chess Club was established. According to one of the club's co-founders, the club caught the attention of a wide age range of players: “We’ve got children as young as 10 that are coming up and playing, we’ve got people in their 50’s that are playing and just all sorts of life experiences.” In July 2024, the Hastings Tribune published a news story about 14-year-old chess player Thomas Jessop. The article details Jessop's feats such as his victory in the 6-8 division at the Nebraska State Qualifier that May. He was set to compete at the national tournament in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

later that month.

Competitors

As of January 2025, the following people are the top rated active USCF players from Nebraska: Other top Nebraska chess players who aren't currently active USCF members include NM Ilan Vardi (2341 Rating), NM Paul D Rohwer (2313 Rating), and Kaveh Alagheband (2211 Rating).

List of state champions (1899 - 2023)

The Nebraska State Chess Association has kept a record of every Nebraska state champion from 1899 onward. In the association's records, the first name of every state champion is abbreviated to a single initial until 2020.

References

{{reflist

Nebraska culture

History

Competitors

List of state champions (1899 - 2023)

See also

References